Research Projects

From Sri Lanka, to Zimbabwe, to Brazil, the research projects ranged in scope, focusing on disaster prevention and resilience, preparedness and emergency response. Although the devastating loss and damage caused by climate change is long lasting and irreversible, building resilience and finding ways to adapt and rapidly recover from extreme climate events is essential.

Together the research findings demonstrate the diverse ways in which cultural heritage – both tangible and intangible – connects sites, rituals, customs, communities and buildings with the natural environment, and can support us building societies which sustain people, places and environments.

Conservation of climate change endangered cultural furniture industry heritage in Damietta, Egypt

This research examined, quantitatively mapped and promoted the cultural and economic resilience of Damietta, which is under threat from climate change and contemporary political decision-making insensitive…

Values-based climate change risk assessment: Piloting the Climate Vulnerability Index for cultural heritage in Africa

This research centred on training heritage professionals in Nigeria and Tanzania through piloting a new, prototype heritage management methodology known as the Climate Vulnerability Index, which provides…

Build Back Better and Roots of Resilience: Enhancing engagement with cultural heritage and climate change research in the Iron Quadrangle region in Minas Gerais, Brazil

This community-based collaborative research project assessed the cultural and environmental impacts of mining in Brazil’s Quadrilátero Ferrifero (Iron Quadrangle), the site of Brazil’s largest iron ore reserves….

Developing a novel Climate change Risk Assessment Framework for cultural heritage in Turkey - CRAFT

This research involved susceptibility mapping of cultural heritage to climate change-driven hazards, with a particular focus on the flood and landslide hazards on Istanbul’s world….

Bridging the knowledge gap through documenting Indigenous early warning indicators in areas prone to climate-induced natural disasters in Zimbabwe

This research provided approaches for including intangible cultural heritage within the framework of disaster risk management, which was being used in recovering and India…

CRITICAL - Food heritage as a tool for adaptation: Climate change resilience through hybrid Indigenous knowledge systems

This programme worked with communities from South Africa, Indonesia and Sri Lanka to develop methods for inclusive risk assessment and research-based capacity development…

Applicability and scalability of a sustainable re-construction framework for seismic-prone heritage areas of Gujarat, India

This programme built future resilience through developing local capacity in seismic-prone heritage areas of India, offering a digital platform to enable the design of mitigation and reconstruction…

Mitigating climate change effects through traditional land management practices

This programme mapped and updated information about traditional systems on the Soqotra Archipelago, assessing how much traditional knowledge has already been lost, which climate…

Fragile heritage ecologies: Vernacular cultures and the at-risk landscapes of the Hindu-Kush-Himalaya Mountain region

This programme used visual storytelling as a method of narrating the ‘great glacial melt’ to engage the public and policy-makers in the realities of, and to instigate action on, climate change within Pakistan and…